Unleashing the potential of Ti ₂ CT _x MXene as a pulse modulator for mid-infrared fiber lasers

Abstract

The strong light–matter interaction in two dimensional (2D) materials portends an untapped potential for fiber lasers in the long sought-after terahertz to mid-infrared spectral range. Here, the broadband nonlinear optical properties of zero-gap 2D Ti2CTx MXene—a class of 2D transition metal carbides that exhibit high laser damage threshold—is discussed. Using the open aperture Z-scan method, for the first time the broadband saturable absorption properties of Ti2CTx in the 800–1560 nm spectral range are demonstrated. Specifically, it is shown that the high absorption and low saturation intensity of Ti2CTx make it an ideal saturable absorber for mode-locked fiber lasers operating at 1565 and 1051 nm, which exhibited pulse widths of 5.3 ps and 164 ps, respectively. Additionally, a Ti2CTx saturable absorber was used as a Q-switcher to realize a pulsed fiber laser operating at 2.8 µm, which showed excellent nonlinear absorption performance in the mid-infrared regime. This study significantly broadens the scope of materials available for non-linear optical applications in the near and mid-infrared regimes.

MXenes: Synthesis, Optical Properties, and Applications in Ultrafast Photonics

“…In 2019, Yi et al reported on the broadband nonlinear properties of MXenes in triple-wavelength band for the first time, where mode-locked pulses operated at 1051 and 1565 nm and Q-switched pulses operated at 2798 nm were achieved enabled by the same Ti 2 CT x -based SA. [16] Furthermore, Jiang et al also demonstrated the ultrafast pulses operated at 1-, 1.5-, and 2.8-µm bands based on Ti 3 C 2 T x SA. [185] The corresponding spectra, RF spectra, and pulse profiles are shown in Figure 14a-c.…”

Recent Progress of Two-Dimensional Materials for Ultrafast Photonics

“…The pulse width was 850 fs, and the repetition rate was up to 218.4 MHz with high commercial value in certain fields, such as electronic communication. Later, Yi et al investigated the broadband SA properties of Ti CT and incorporated the solution-processed Ti CT onto a D-shape fiber to obtain a mode-locked pulse at 1565 nm with a pulse duration of 5.3 ps [ 56 ].…”

“…In 2019, Zhou et al obtained passively Q-switched pulses in 3 m based on Ti C T with a maximum output power of 517 mW at the repetition rate of 78.12 kHz, which carved the way for the MXene used in mid-IR pulse generation [ 334 ]. Later, Yi et al realized a Q-switched Er-doped ZBLAN fiber laser based on Ti CT , obtaining a pulse duration of 730 ns and repetition rate of 99.5 kHz [ 56 ]. Subsequently, Bharathan et al reported on a mid-IR fiber laser mode-locked by MXene SA operated near 2.8 m, which had a pulse width of 223.7-ns and an average power of 223 mW [ 335 ].…”

“…In addition, a growing number of novel 2D materials have been added to the 2D family, such as MXenes [ 51 ], bismuthine [ 52 ], and antimonene [ 53 ]. The above 2D materials have been widely explored for ultrafast laser applications from the visible to mid-infrared (mid-IR) wavelengths [ 54 , 55 , 56 ]. Various gain media have been combined with 2D SAs to achieve 1, 1.5, 2, and 3 m, as well as other output wavelength pulsed lasers [ 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 ].…”

Dissipative Soliton Generation From Yb-Doped Fiber Laser Modulated by Mechanically Exfoliated NbSe2

“…where α s is the modulation depth, α ns is the nonsaturable components, and I sa is the saturation intensity [46]. Fitting the results, the modulation depth is 17.26% and the saturation intensity is 34.8 kW/cm 2 , respectively.…”